Kiabonyoru Mixed High School was established by the SDA church in Nyamira County in 1966.
One of its most famous students is Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i who was nicknamed Nusu Mwalimu (small teacher)” when Spartan Nyong’a was head teacher.
Its current principal is Richard Ariemba.
As nusu mwalimu, the only thing he could not do was teaching his colleagues and administering examinations.
“He was the most trusted student because he was bright with exemplary leadership qualities which every other teacher admired,” says Livingstone Okwoyo, the teacher who taught him English and literature in Form Four. “And that is how he was elevated from being a dorm prefect to a kitchen prefect.”
Okwoyo is the school’s oldest teacher there and recalls that Matiang’i “could walk around with a cane just like a teacher and cane anyone who was on the wrong side of the school rules.”
“Whenever Matiang’i was in the front of the kitchen line, no one would dare overtake seconds,” Julius Onduso who was in Form Two when Matiang’i was in Form Four says.
Matiang’I was at the school between 1981 and 1984 for his O-levels before joining Kisii School for his A-levels.
Among notable alumni of Kiabonyoru include former Standard photojournalist Tabitha Otwori, former Education Assistant Minister Wilfred Ombui, Nyaribari Chache MP Richard Tong’i; renowned lawyers Danstan Omari, Agwata Moturi and Julius Anyoka.
Others guided by the motto ‘Strive for Excellence’ are Nyamira chairman of Parents Teachers Association Dr Charles Moochi and US based scholar Prof Obadiah Kegege.
